John Venables-Kyrke

JOHN Venables-Kyrke from Subaru Osborne Park in Perth is now preparing to compete in the Subaru World Technical Competition (SWTC) in November after taking out the Japanese brand’s annual Australian Technical Competition (ATC) last week.

Held at the Subaru Academy in Sydney on March 15-16, the ATC brought nine of Subaru’s top technicians together in a tough two-day competition designed to showcase their skills and knowledge with assessment based on a written examination and various practical tests including on-car fault diagnosis, off-car data analysis and off-car electric diagnosis.

Mr Venables-Kyrke’s narrow victory – only five points separated the top five placings, with two-and-a-half points between the top three – handed him the 2017 Australian Technician of the Year title, backing up his win last year and giving him automatic entry to the global competition, which is held every two years.

In second place was Matthew Moller from Subaru Penrith, New South Wales, while Dave Rapley from Bathurst Subaru, NSW, placed third.

Mr Venables-Kyrke described winning the national award – which hands him the coveted Gary Matthews perpetual trophy, named after Australia’s first representative at the SWTC in 2005, who died in 2011 after a battle with cancer – as “truly an honour” given the high level of competition this year.

“It was a lot more challenging this time around and I’m so proud to have backed it up again after last year’s win,” he said.

Top techs: Subaru Osborne Park’s John Venables-Kyrke (centre) with Bathurst Subaru’s Dave Rapley (left) and Penrith Subaru’s Matthew Moller.

“I’m excited to represent Australia in the SWTC and hopefully I can bring home another trophy.”

Subaru Australia’s national training and network engagement manager Gary Pearce told GoAuto that Mr Venables-Kyrke’s win in the national competition last year only gave him the right to compete in this year’s ATC, rather than automatically qualifying for the SWTC.

“The reason we do this is to give the technicians as many high-pressure situations to battle-harden them before one eventually goes to Japan,” he said.

Mr Venables-Kyrke will now undergo an “intensive preparation program” in the lead-up to the SWTC, which will be held at Subaru’s global technical academy in Takao, Japan.

He will be supported at the competition by Subaru Australia’s technical team leader Ben Grover, and is following in the footsteps of Australia’s 2015 SWTC representative, Eblen Subaru’s Tim Newton – a protege of the late Gary Matthews – and Rosebery Subaru’s Michael Cooper, who won the global competition in 2013.

He has also received support along the way from Subaru Osborne Park dealer principal Michael Tomeo and service manager Craig Long.

By Terry Martin